Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad
By Our Reporter
The COVID-19 status of Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Tanko Muhammad, has been trailed with controversy as the Supreme Court’s Director of Information, Dr Festus Akande said it was only a rumour that the CJN has contracted the virus.
It will be recalled that Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, a member of the Supreme Court, said on Tuesday at the unveiling of the national headquarters of Muslim Lawyers’ Association of Nigeria (MULAN), in Abuja that Tanko had tested positive for COVID-19 and added that the CJ is presently in Dubai receiving treatment.
In what looks like a confirmation of his submission, Tanko who was supposed to swear in 72 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), on Monday, was absent at the ceremony.
The next most senior justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, administered the oath to the new SANs.
But a swift denial surfaced shortly after Saulawa confirmed Tanko’s COVID-19 status, Akande said what Saulawa said was only a rumour.
“I wish to state categorically clear that there is no medical report so far made available by anybody indicating that the Hon. CJN has tested positive for Coronavirus,” he said.
According to him, those peddling the rumour should go a step further to confirm from their sources and equally obtain the copy of whatever laboratory test result they were relying on.
He said as of this moment of issuing this statement, no one has so far shown him or any other person in Supreme Court a copy of the test result they were referring to in the report.
